Monitor110

Real-time internet monitoring services

Description

Monitor 110 was an information and data gathering service that offered real-time internet monitoring services for Wall Street. It allowed investors to monitor internet sources for information and insight relevant to their investment and portfolio management. Their algorithm allowed customers to gather data and monitor 40 million online sources so as to get first knowledge of any new trend by essentially ‘listening in’ to online conversations and blogs that included keywords related to the financial market.

Stats

Category

Analytics

Country

United States

Started

In 2003

Closed

By 2008

Number of Founders

One

Name of Founders

Roger Ehrenberg

Number of Employees

Between 1 And 10

Number of Funding Rounds

3

Total Funding Amount

$17.3M

Number of Investors

4

Precise Cause of Failure

Multiple Reasons

Business Outcome

Shut Down

Cause of Failure

Monitor 110 closed down its
operations in July 2008 due to various reasons.

First, there wasn’t a clear
leadership at the top levels. Monitor110 was directed by two people that had
completely different backgrounds - which per se is not a bad thing - but that
also had different perspectives when it came to decision making. The company
also waited too much before releasing their product also due to the fact that
they received substantial publicity (for example, they were featured by the
Financial Times) before they had a thoroughly tested release. This got people’s
expectation high and made the company reluctant to release a less than perfect
product. The fact that they received $17 million might have also been
counterproductive for them, as instead of building a lean beta version they
kept developing the product in a vacuum based on their vision for it rather
than receiving valuable feedback from customers. A technical problem they also
faced was related to the amount of spam and duplicate posts that the algorithm
was picking up on, it was too much and it could have diminished the value of
the platform. When they finally decided on a suitable business pivot after
months of indecisiveness, the company had already started running out of money
and there was an unpleasant tension between the company team. The company lost
also the edge they could have had in such a competitive market as theirs and
decided to shut their operations in 2008.

A big resource for entrepreneurs and startup owners, in which we have collected and analyzed why +100 big companies have failed. Learn from mistakes, and avoid being part of the 90% of businesses that fail.

Monitor 110 was an information and data gathering service that offered real-time internet monitoring services for Wall Street. It allowed investors to monitor internet sources for information and insight relevant to their investment and portfolio management. Their algorithm allowed customers to gather data and monitor 40 million online sources so as to get first knowledge of any new trend by essentially ‘listening in’ to online conversations and blogs that included keywords related to the financial market.

Cause of Failure

Monitor 110 closed down its
operations in July 2008 due to various reasons.

First, there wasn’t a clear
leadership at the top levels. Monitor110 was directed by two people that had
completely different backgrounds - which per se is not a bad thing - but that
also had different perspectives when it came to decision making. The company
also waited too much before releasing their product also due to the fact that
they received substantial publicity (for example, they were featured by the
Financial Times) before they had a thoroughly tested release. This got people’s
expectation high and made the company reluctant to release a less than perfect
product. The fact that they received $17 million might have also been
counterproductive for them, as instead of building a lean beta version they
kept developing the product in a vacuum based on their vision for it rather
than receiving valuable feedback from customers. A technical problem they also
faced was related to the amount of spam and duplicate posts that the algorithm
was picking up on, it was too much and it could have diminished the value of
the platform. When they finally decided on a suitable business pivot after
months of indecisiveness, the company had already started running out of money
and there was an unpleasant tension between the company team. The company lost
also the edge they could have had in such a competitive market as theirs and
decided to shut their operations in 2008.